CDKW00582 - The Other Side for Prisoners-of-War

The de-escalation of the Korean conflict meant that Canadian prisoners-of-war captured north of the 38th parallel were gradually trickling into South Korea. As this account from April 1953 attests, Captain George Vanner and Second Lieutenant Jean Gauthier were stationed at Munsan-Ni, a town just south of the 38th parallel, monitoring any Canadians who arrived to be treated for wounds and sickness. Ottawa was particularly interested in Lance Corporal Paul Dugal, with the 22nd Royal Regiment, a recently-released prisoner-of-war who was the only Canadian known to have passed through Freedom Village, a town called Daeseong-dong, located within the demilitarized zone on the 38th parallel. Their account of Dugal’s condition, though brief, indicated that the conditions for prisoners-of-war were hardly comfortable—though Vanner stated that Dugal’s condition had improved since returning to South Korea, Dugal could remain partially paralyzed. Though many of the prisoner-of-war documents within these files focus on the reverse situation, with Canadian troops guarding communist prisoners-of-war, Canadian diplomats were anxious to repatriate their own captured troops in negotiations as quickly as possible, and ensure that medical treatment and transportation would be available once they returned south of the 38th parallel.